Topol-M

Steven Van Dyck
Let's start on this behemoth, now I have the resin printed wheels I was looking for during a year. Again they're out of stock.

Villiers de Vos
Epic. I would like to book my seat.

Steven Van Dyck
Welcome, Villiers. The frame with the engine is assembled and some suspension elements are now prepared. Some guests are attending on the sideline.

Ben M
👀

Steven Van Dyck
As usual, Trumpeter has simplified the steering mechanism so it wouldn't work. I made changes based on the walkaround walkarounds.scalemod..kets/imitator_topol/ . That means deciphering where on the vehicle pictures are taken and trying to recognize which steering arms needed to be prolonged and which holes in the frame need to be closed up. It seems some steering elements in the middle are still missing.

Villiers de Vos
I cannot wait to see how you are going to pose this giant creepy crawly.

Rahu444
Thank you for the comment! I'm looking forward to seeing your build 😮 👍

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks! I'm already at the upper parts, that works a lot faster because these are showing lots of detail from the sprue. What did bother a bit were the bottom plates that curved on the outside, you really need to clamp the frame when you assemble the two large beams or these won't fit around the axle base. An unexpected problem was that one of my figures turned out not to be 1/35 and even not 1/32 but rather 1/24, I had to order another version. It should be noted that a non-christmas head is included, so I'll go for that.

[img1]

[img1]

Ben M
Larger than life

Villiers de Vos
It seems that most of the parts goes into the chassis?

Steven Van Dyck
Some spectators are now assembled on the sideline. There are just many parts, I'm still beginning to use different sprues.

Steven Van Dyck
The figures are complete and primed black now. I built the workable elevators and I'm now studying some pictures to add some extra rear steering elements. It's hard to see where they go. On the rear, there are some ladders. They take a while to clean up.

Steven Van Dyck
The launching tube is created, as a prank I included a picture that more resembles a plumber job. I wanted to replace the hydraulic erector that ha only 3 sections, I can see at least 4 or 5 on a rare video of a launch. I also add the missing steering components.

Villiers de Vos
Coming along nicely.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Villiers. I added a Sockelshop camaraman to the company. Now the alst bits of detail are added to the frame before it will be painted black. I also added a steering rod to the inside, though there is little reference for that.

Steven Van Dyck
The frame and the resin wheels are painted Tamiya X1. In the cockpits I used the typical Soviet fighter interior green.

Steven Van Dyck
After the PE was bent 115° I also scratched some thinner mud flaps. I finished the interior of the cabs and I used some NATO black over the frame and the engine to get some accents.

Villiers de Vos
I am still nailed to my chair.

Steven Van Dyck
The Topol has now emptied the second bottle of Gunze 303. I glued the wheel hub cabs, but I had to adjust the inside diameter of half of the holes to the axles. The cabling to the rocket is running through some brackets that are not provided, I made this out of staples. and soft wire. At last a dry-fit of the whole.

Steven Van Dyck
With the highlights on, the parts of the model can beassembled. I found out the engine needs some metallics in stead of all black. It's very important to correct any wrong angles of the fixtures to align the truck parts. I also build a cobblestone pavement like seen on some Red Square pictures.

Treehugger
Any tips for working with metal wiring? I bought some electrical wiring, but even heating them up, I find them hard to bend. I used some thicker solder wire, but that stuff is perhaps a little too soft again, easy to bend, but also break/snap easily.

Steven Van Dyck
What I used here is a wire for binding bonsai trees. It can be bent very easily, has a black coat and can be cut straight off with a knife.

Alberto
Looking great Steven 👍. Out of curiosity, what is the part count on this one?

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Alberto. They couldn't even keep track of that themselves: [img1]

There is one PE part I can't locate in the manual, though. All the rest is used up.

Villiers de Vos
The paint effects came out very nice.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Villiers. Now the decals are done, I used some of a Hobbyboss DANA kit for the turning arrows on the locker doors. On the underside, all overspray is removed with NATO black.

Villiers de Vos
Well done. A monster indeed!

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks. For this monster a suitable base was still required. You can see my design in this update, it's a wooden picture frame with a rectangular base added, painted black, filled with styropor and smeared with cold curing clay. My package had been stored for a while after opening and was a little dehydrated, so I had to add water. This resulted in a sticky mix that could only be made workable if the Greenstuff dye was moistened before rolling.

Treehugger
A trick to remove the gloss from the vinyl tyres is to apply alcohol and wipe them clean I've seen on youtube.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks for the advice, but this is not vinyl. It's a resin kit that already had a matt texture because of the printing process. This update shows the priming of the road surface and then the aoplication of some Tamiya and AK wash products and pigments. Then, the tyres are added. The rocket silo is not yet treated with a wash.

Lode Schildermans
What a beast. Looking forward to see it in real

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks Lode. It might work out in Putte. Today I uploaded some pictures of the figures that are almost ready.

Lode Schildermans
I didn't expect figures, but they are a real nice added value to the Topol. Looking forward to see this set hopefully in Putte

Steven Van Dyck
The Topol is now treated with Vallejo matt cote for the first time. This is done before the silo is fixed, so the chassis can still be reached. A wew white specks appeared, but these can probaby be pinched away with a scalpel. The cables at the back will have to be forced in the right shape.

Steven Van Dyck
The last steps toward finishing. I discovered an internal mask I forgot to remove. It was possible by shaping a freshly cut thread in a hook, to pry the tape off. Even then the clearpart appearde to be cracked by the rpessure you need to introduce it in the cabin. Some tolerance is preferrable. To fix the Topol to the base I needed to screw it on the fixed middle axles, that are placed a bit too high.

Steven Van Dyck
The Topol is done now, and it already got a successor in the stash, called S300V.

Villiers de Vos
Fantastic work.

Ben M
Beautiful! But you should check your references, needs a little more orange 😉